Culinary

Cinnamon
and curry are two of the spices that were used to season the sacrifices
given at the Temple. These very same spices season our food and continue to
be popular today: they are also essential ingredients for cooks in many cultures.

Our neighbor, Munira Musaffi, who
immigrated to Israel from Iraq in the spring of 1951, shared a morning with
us preparing vegetables in a pungent hot sauce. Served alone as an appetizer,
or as an accompaniment to couscous, this spicy dish not only wakes
up the taste buds, but is colorful to behold with its yellows, oranges and
browns.

In Iraq, Munira lived in her parents’
home until the day she married at the age of 16. The young couple lived with
Munira’s husband’s parents home for a few years until they were ready to
set up their own place. Even then she did not learn to cook. Living with
her parents and in-laws, Munira attended meals and did not need to learn
to prepare them. “My mother and then my mother-in-law took care of everything.
Later, when we moved into our own home, I had a maid,” says Munira.

Munira was already a mother of a few
small children when the family immigrated, and so began the family’s life
anew, where Munira had to learn to manage her family’s household, including
— for the first time — the daily chores.

Munira learned the recipe below from
her neighbor, also a native of Iraq, once she moved to Israel. “They ate
this in Iraq, but I only learned how to make it here,” says Munira.

For ease, we’ll call this dish curried
vegetables. It can be seasoned to taste. The recipe we give yields moderate
to hot servings.

Ingredients

4 carrots

1/4 head
of cauliflower

3 zucchini

1 cucumber

1 small
eggplant

1 red pepper

1 yellow
pepper

1 green
pepper

1 garlic
bulb

Vinegar

Curry powder
(yellow)

Cumin

Hot paprika
or hot pepper

Peel and cut carrots into sections
approximately thumb length. 1/4 the carrot strips and cut out the sweet core.